By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Wood Boat Bottom

Hi Guys,

I am in the finishing stages of building a 16 ft. Don Hill Drift Boat and want to put fiberglass on the bottom of the boat for extra protection. I looked at the UMHW but someone told me that in Colorado it would be a disaster because of the extreme temperature ranges. So I have decided to put Coat-It on the bottom but thought that it would be good to include fiberglass as well.

Can you tell me if this would be a good solution and what type of fiberglass I should purchase?

Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,

Troy

Denver, Colorado

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Eric Loudenslager on March 1, 2010 at 7:24pm

If there is a search function on this site you should try and look back through the discussions on this topic. They will add to my comment. I have no idea what "coat it" is...but probably it is not advisable. On a framed boat there is at least three options - 1. no epoxy, use a 1/4 inch shoe over 1/2 inch ply bottom and oil...see Dave Z; 2. modestly heavy (20 0z) triaxial glass attached to a 1/2 inch ply bottom with laminating epoxy (West Systems, System 3, MAS, Raka) and fill the weave of the cloth with epoxy/graphite mix- 2a; glass up to the bottom edge, coat end grain of the bottom with epoxy - attach exterior chine batten; 2b - slightly round the bottom and glass over the end grain of the bottom and up the side panel a couple inches - attach exterior chine batten - fill the gap between the chine batten and epoxied bottom with epoxy thickened with wood flour. 2a is Ray Heater's and AJ's method, 2b is Randy's.

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Permalink Reply by Troy Sibelius on March 1, 2010 at 8:26pm

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your reply. Coat - It is an epoxy product with Kevlar already in the mix and I have heard from others that have used the product have had fairly good results but I thought that it might be a good idea to include with a fiberglass sheet just to add additional reinforcement.

I would be curious to hear if anyone has any other suggestions. Unfortunately I already have the bottom chines attached and don't want to have to take them off due to the marine caulk nightmare and redoing all of the screw holes, etc. Might be what I have to do but would like to think that there is another option without all of that additional work. Thanks. Troy

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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on March 2, 2010 at 8:28am

Take those chine caps off and do it right the first time. Coat -it might be ok for and emergency patch or to slicken the bottom of an aluminum boat but not as a substitute for a quality epoxy to wet out heavy cloth on a driftboat bottom. Eric's advice about bottoms is right on and there are volumes posted about the different methods, all of which work very well. Shortcuts are tempting but the price may by very high in the long run.

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Permalink Reply by Bryan McDade on March 2, 2010 at 8:56am

Hi, I built a Don Hill also and used epoxy and fiberglass on the bottom as well as "coat it" as a top layer(actualy top 2 layers). It looks good and is fairly slick. No where near UHMW. It will look bad after hitting a few rocks, but I always liked the used boat bottom look. I put it on two boats, a new one I built and a old one I restored. 8 winters and summers in Washington and Oregon including freezing weather and I never had a issue. Good Luck!

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Permalink Reply by Troy Sibelius on March 2, 2010 at 12:40pm

OK - so it sounds like the fiberglass is the way to go, now can anyone give me recommendations on which Epoxy system (West Systems, System 3, MAS, Raka) to use and where is a good place to purchase it on line? How long will it take to put this type of epoxy system on? Hoping to have the boat ready for a weekend trip in May.

Thanks to all of you for your input. This is a critical piece and I do want to make sure that I do it right. Troy

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Permalink Reply by Eric Loudenslager on March 2, 2010 at 1:24pm

See the System Three and Jamestown Distributors on the sponsor links on the main woodenboatpeople page.

Raka - 772-489-4070, www.raka.com
MAS - www.masepoxies.com
West Systems - http://westsystem.com/ss/
System Three - www.systemthree.com

I used system three silver tip series and would use it again. I bought glass from raka. System three and fiberglass supply also sells glass. You can purchase glass, MAS, West System, and System Three from Jamestown Distributors. Some folks posting to this site have had issues with sales assistants at Raka. The Raka site has a lot of good information on epoxy and glass.

Good luck